1. Pound plunges near 30-year low
Sterling has dropped 4.5% against the dollar, its worst month since 2016’s Brexit vote, sliding from $1.225 to below $1.161 today.
2. Lloyds Banking, NatWest and Barclays still in favour
Robust mortgage lending in the Bank of England’s latest monthly money and credit statistics underlines the appeal of the UK bank sector, according to Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)
3. Russia stops the flow of gas via Nord Stream pipeline
Gazprom, the Russian state energy company, turned off the pipeline at 4am Moscow time on Wednesday morning.
4. FTSE 100 falls once again
At the close, the UK blue-chip index was down 77.48 points, or 1.1% at 7,284.15, above the day’s low of 7,263.62 but well below the session peak of 7,378.44.
5. Sainsbury’s to plough £65mln into price cuts in September to ease pressure on consumers
The UK’s second-largest supermarket group said £60mln of September’s investment will go towards food prices.